The first race over the newly constructed Grand National fences at Aintree on
Thursday may not have been entirely incident free – Katie Walsh’s mount
Battlefront suffered a suspected fatal heart attack after being pulled up –
but the fences were generally given the thumbs-up by jockeys, although RSPCA
chief executive Gavin Grant warned that Becher’s Brook was “on a yellow
card”.

Death at Aintree: Battlefront (far left), ridden by Katie Walsh, jumps Becher's Brook on the opening day of the Grand National meeting but later died from a suspected heart attackPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

The jockeys’ verdict on the restyled fences, which have had their core softened by the removal of wooden stakes, appeared to be backed up by the statistics. From 24 starters in the John Smith’s Fox Hunters’ Chase, 14 finished and, of the remaining 10, there were only four fallers. One other unseated the jockey, while the rest were pulled up.

Sam Waley-Cohen, the most experienced jockey in a race exclusively for amateurs, said: “They are still big and they still provide the ultimate test for horse and rider. I didn’t get low enough to test out the new core, but horses still need to respect them.”

Nick Sutton, having the last ride of his career, said: “There is a bit more give in the top of them, but going the speed we went, there would have been a few fallers even over park fences. We were flat out all the way.”

Walsh, who partners Seabass in Saturday’s Grand National, was having a dream ride with Battlefront jumping exuberantly and leading the field over Becher’s Brook. However, when the gelding rapidly began to back-pedal through the field, she pulled him up at the 11th fence.

The 11-year-old collapsed and died soon afterwards, a misfortune that could have happened to him while working on the gallops at home.

Professor Chris Proudman, veterinary adviser to Aintree, said: “We are sad to confirm that Battlefront was pulled up at fence 11 by his jockey Katie Walsh and sadly shortly afterwards he collapsed and died.”

Proudman later added that the cause of death would be investigated with a post-mortem, and that the day had otherwise been free of serious incident.

Grant said RSPCA inspectors, would examine footage of the race before drawing any conclusions.

He also revealed that the animal-­welfare charity remains at ­loggerheads with the British Horseracing Authority over changes to the Aintree course. He had decided to attend this year’s meeting for the first time, following the death of two horses in 2012.

Grant, who became RSPCA chief in January last year, examined the revamped Grand National fence that he had previously demanded be removed entirely.

The modifications that have been made failed to convince him to rescind his demand, but his stance appeared to soften when he subsequently described it as now being under continuing scrutiny.

“Becher’s Brook is on a yellow card as far as we’re concerned. The fence is still at an odd angle to the course,” he said. “The horses are still encouraged by jockeys who want to take the racing line to jump the fence at an angle and that obviously creates greater stress and hazard for the horses as they’re coming in to land.

“The fence has consistently played a role in bringing down horses. We still have serious concerns.”

Grant, who said the RSPCA would have seven inspectors at Aintree during the three-day National meeting, added ominously: “We’re watching Becher’s Brook very carefully.”

He also revealed that he and the BHA had failed to reach an agreement on the number of runners in the Grand National, which he wants reduced from 40 to 32.

Controversy aside, the race proved that Aintree is still capable of causing a fairytale result when it was won by the Scottish-trained 100-1 outsider Tartan Snow, a 13-year-old homebred gelding ridden by 18-year-old rookie Jamie Hamilton, having his first ride over the fences.

This is the sort of story for which the National is famous. The trainer, Stuart Coltherd, is a sheep farmer in the Borders with 1,300 ewes, and had been up at 2am yesterday to tend to lambing before leaving for Liverpool at breakfast-time.

“On his form and rating we couldn’t have expected this,” said Coltherd. “It will make lambing a bit easier this spring.”

Rory Westwood, the owner/breeder of Tartan Snow, is another sheep farmer, with a 150-acre farm and 450 ewes. Asked if he had backed the winner, he said: “I had a fiver each-way on the Tote [which would have been a pay-out of £843.50].”